how to clean road grime off rims??

by **snyderdude** » August 22nd, 2011, 6:58 pm

hey guys, just wondering what techniques and products can be used for road grim, tar, rubber, sap, gravel and all other weird and wonderfull black stuff that ruins our rims

trying to clean some rims up at the moment and the handy degreaser, metal polish nor concerntrated car wash detergant wont bring them back to a clean finish.

any ideas and help is greatly appreciated and im sure others might be interested in this too.
thanks guys :drinks2:

by **4dlvr** » August 22nd, 2011, 7:37 pm

Clean it with warm soapy water and news papers, cloths just get way to dirty, and polish them when I'm done..
I polish them once every couple months or so and soap clean them with news paper every time I was my car which is once or twice a week.. They usually stay pretty clean

by **snyderdude** » August 22nd, 2011, 7:41 pm

i do aswell with my 19s, i brought anouther project car and the previous owner let them get extremly dirty and grimey and so far nothing has eliminated any grime.
the newspaper is great idea though :good:

ill use that one thanks

by **Troutman** » August 23rd, 2011, 2:06 am

I'm currently using this:

You spray, leave it on for a short period of time and either hose or wipe off. It would have a good chance of removing the grime that a normal car wash won't get rid of.

Cheers.

by **snyderdude** » August 23rd, 2011, 9:57 am

ill give it a wurl mate and see how i go, hope it works im fighting some pretty gnarly grime lol

thanks :drinks2:

by **Troutman** » August 24th, 2011, 3:17 am

I can also recommend a write-up done by my friend in Virginia.

http://www.mazdaworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=81

by **vegabass** » August 24th, 2011, 8:17 am

What type of rims are we talking about? A painted surface, machined, alloy (simmons style), cast mags? Different products suit different wheels. I had some Simmons on my MGF and I had huge trouble trying to get all the brake dust off. The outer polished rim was porous and just absorbed the dust. I tried heaps of things. I took it to a car wash where 20 million Asians appeared from no where and washed the car. 20 mins later the car was clean and the wheels were spotless! I asked them what they used and they said "I not tell, you come back next week, and week after". :lol:

by **apoc** » August 24th, 2011, 8:34 am

hahahahaha thats awesome vegabass. Pity theres not more asian car washes!

by **apoc** » August 24th, 2011, 8:36 am

I tried using that caustic wheel cleaner on some option 52 xb rims, cleaned the flat sections awesome. But wouldnt get rid of the crap in the cast alloy

I think thats just because its rough cast alloy though. Needs a soda blast or something to get it all off

by **snyderdude** » August 24th, 2011, 2:57 pm

im not sure of material sorry =s thinking its machined steel, coz under the machined top its quite corse? i tried so so many things now and still nothing its real stubborn =s the past owner obviously did not look after them.
its black gritty stuff that seems blochy if that makes any sense. im guessing something strong is in order ideas?

by **snyderdude** » August 24th, 2011, 3:42 pm

heres a pic guys

by **apoc** » August 24th, 2011, 3:53 pm

****! that's some serious crap on your rims sir. Might have to sand that one off =\

by **psychotic-angel** » August 24th, 2011, 3:58 pm

I used autosol on my dads hotwires they looked like that cleans it right off

by **nstg8a** » August 24th, 2011, 4:18 pm

that looks like alloy corrosion to me... that will need a good machine polish with autosol or similar, or some fine wet n dry sandpaper. some (lots) of elbow grease to fix that.

be easier to send them to a wheel specialist and say 'fix'

by **snyderdude** » August 24th, 2011, 6:09 pm

nstg8a wrote:that looks like alloy corrosion to me... that will need a good machine polish with autosol or similar, or some fine wet n dry sandpaper. some (lots) of elbow grease to fix that.

be easier to send them to a wheel specialist and say 'fix'

i just wanna clean them up a bit befor i sell them coz i got them with a car i brought and i have my 19s so no need for these.
might give them a crack with a bit of elbow grease. which method and product would you suggest? there are so many autosol poducts lol

by **nstg8a** » August 24th, 2011, 6:16 pm

that and some various grades of wet .n dry sandpaper will clean it right up. dont start too course otherwise you will scratch the fark out of the alloy and just create more work.

i cant remember what i started with, but i finished with 1500 grit sandpaper.

start on an inconspicuous area first until you know your not making it worse.

a buffer would probably work as well, but ive never tried it.

by **Dezza** » August 24th, 2011, 6:18 pm

snyderdude, I've got the same issue between the spokes on my AU wheels (bloody 16 spoke things). It's where the brake dust sat too long and ate right into it. I managed to get the wheels looking half decent using proper wheel cleaner stuff but I doubt I'd be able to get them perfect.

by **snyderdude** » August 24th, 2011, 6:26 pm

tx nstg8a ill give that a wurl and fingers crossed :good:

16 spokes would be hell.... luckily mine is just on the flat dish all round, if there is a good part in this. if only previous owner looked after them like i do my typhoons =(

by **nstg8a** » August 24th, 2011, 6:32 pm

if its just the dish itl be easy. wont take long at all.

by **snyderdude** » August 24th, 2011, 6:43 pm

hope so =) really hopes this works coz these rims are in reasonable condition otherwise and want to sell them in good condition to fund my engine!